Tennis: Davenport Driven on By Unfinished Business

There are more than half a dozen contenders for the women's title at the Australian Open this year, but there is no clear favourite.

"Last year it didn't have to do with who was the biggest name, or who was supposed to win," said Lindsay Davenport, the current world No1. "It was just whoever was left standing."

This view might be regarded as uncharitable by the three Russians - Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova - who respectively won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, although there is more than a grain of truth in the Californian's assessment. Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne, the 2004 Australian Open champion, missed most of the rest of last year through illness and injury, and is still missing; the Williams sisters, with 10 grand slams between them, were similarly plagued by injury.

"It was the most open it has been for a long time," said Davenport. And the same remains true now, but it would be rare if somebody in the top 10 failed to grasp control this year. Davenport would love it to be her. Although given a propensity to go lame in the latter stages of the majors, she would be delighted to add just one more slam to her tally of three.

Last year, after losing to Sharapova in the Wimbledon semi-finals, she was on the point of turning her back on the game. "I really was ready to quit, to walk away, and maybe that took some of the pressure off. After Wimbledon I just got on a roll, and finally I began to play the sort of tennis that I hadn't played for years."

She went into last year's US Open as clear favourite, only to be hit by a hip problem and lose in the semi-finals to Kuznetsova, ending a 22-match winning streak on the US hard courts. "I've learned you can't control things or plan. Whatever happens, it will happen."

And what happened after her arrival in Australia was a chest infection, although yesterday she declared herself fit and raring to go against one of her long-time adversaries, Conchita Martinez of Spain, a former Wimbledon champion.

Davenport, whose third and last slam title was here five years ago, is aware that her top ranking is something of an anomaly, considering her failure to reach a slam final last year. "The rankings are always up for debate," she admitted. "I wish I could have won a slam and be ranked No4."

In all probability the 28-year-old, who was the Wimbledon champion in 1999 and took the US Open title a year earlier, will retire at the end of 2005. "But it's hard to walk away if you feel you've left business unfinished. I'm playing this year because I feel I have a good chance of winning another slam."